102 REPORT — 1855. 



These tubes have few or no discs upon them, but are covered with spiral striae, 

 giving the appearance of each tube being formed of a twisted band. The above 

 characters prevail in all parts of the wood, but are slightly modified in different 

 rings. Thus, the outer zone is broader in some than in others, the disc-bearing 

 fibres of the outer zone are sometimes faintly marked with spiral striae, and the 

 spirally marked fibres of the inner zone sometimes bear discs. These appearances 

 suggest the annual recurrence of some special cause that shall thus modify the first 

 and last-formed fibres of each year's deposit, so that that first formed may differ in 

 amount as well as in kind from that last formed ; and the peculiar conditions of an 

 arctic climate appear to afford an adequate solution. The inner, or first formed 

 zone, must be regarded as imperfectly developed, being deposited at a season when 

 the functions of the plant are very intermittently exercised, and when a few short 

 hours of hot sunshine are daily succeeded by many of extreme cold. As the season 

 advances, the sun's heat and light aie continuous during the greater part of the 

 twenty-four hours, and the newly-formed wood fibres are hence more perfectly de- 

 veloped ; they are much larger, present no signs of striae, but are studded with discs 

 of a more highly organized structure than are usual in the natural order to which 

 this tree belongs." 



On the JFlowering of Yictoria Regia, m the Royal Botanic Garden, Glasgow. 

 By P. Clark, Curator of the Garden. 



The author traced in the first place the history of the cultivation of this plant in 

 Britain, and then explained the method employed in the Botanic Garden of Glasgow, 

 which was opened to the Members of the Association. 



The structure in which the water-lily is grown was specially erected for the 

 purpose, and contains a tank 20 by 22 feet, so constructed as to give a depth of 

 3 feet, gently sloping to half that depth at the edges. In the centre of the tank 

 there is a square pit one foot in depth, over which is formed a conical mound, con- 

 sisting of about three cart-loads of charred loam, leaf-mould, &c. In this the 

 Victoria was planted on the 1 2th of May last. The temperature of the water kept 

 up during the whole summer has been from about 83° to 85° Fahr. When planted, 

 the largest leaf was not more than 12 inches in diameter, but the size and number 

 of leaves soon increased, and towards the end of the month some of them were a 

 foot and a half in diameter. The increase continued ; on the 15th of June one leaf 

 measured 2 feet in diameter; but after this date, in consequence of much dull rainy 

 ■weather, the plant did not make progress until towards the end of July, when it 

 again started into healthy growth and rapidly gained strength, so much so, that, in 

 the course of a week, it had gained fourteen good leaves, some of them measuring 

 3 feet 6 inches in diameter. By the 15th of August the plant had increased to 

 great size, and presented a remarkably beautiful and healthy appearance ; at this 

 time some of the young leaves increased in diameter at the rate of 12 or 14 inches 

 in twenty-four hours. On the 22nd of August a flower-bud was discovered, the plant 

 being then very healthy and vigorous, and the largest leaf 4 feet 10 inches across. 

 On the morning of the 31st of August, the flower-bud was seen to move itself as 

 far as possible in one direction, then back again in a semicircle, finally raising itself 

 into a somewhat erect position out of the water, so as to rest against the margin of 

 the young leaf from the axil of which it was produced. As the day advanced the 

 flower began to open, diffusing a fragrance like that of a well-ripened pine-apple 

 through the house, which was also distinctly perceptible in the adjoining palm- 

 house. At 3 o'clock a number of the petals opened, and at 5 p.m. the flower 

 expanded to considerable size, continuing to increase throughout the evening and 

 night. At 10 o'clock on the following morning (1st Sept.) the petals began to 

 close again, and in little more than an hour it was almost quite closed, in which 

 state it remained during the forenoon. In the afternoon (between 2 and 3 o'clock) 

 it again opened, and more fully than before, the central petals rising up in a beauti- 

 ful manner ; the full expansion occurred at half-past 6 p.m. The flower, when in 

 its best condition, was examined by 2000 visitors during the afternoon. It mea- 

 sured 13 inches in diameter; but one produced since then was half an inch larger. 

 One leaf measured 5 feet 2 inches in diameter, the margin being turned up in the 

 tray form so peculiar to the leaf of this plant. 



